Katja Maria Coaching

Just a very grateful girl to be soaking in this sunshine and beauty today 😍 It snowed a little bit - it usually snows much less here than mainland Finland. Found this pretty place, not that far from my house.

It was good to take the day entirely off for more time outdoors & taking care of this pretty place I’m living in, after a week of celebrating wins with my vocal & artist coaching clients who are doing such beautiful work and progress 🎉 and some long hours at the laptop. Not only are some new programs opening, along with ‘old’ ones reopening for enrollment - I’m also renewing my coaching website…a lot of stuff is coming out now! 😄 It feels like a burst of creative energy, but it’s all been growing under the surface for quite a long time already, and these past years I’ve been working on aligning & gaining a lot of clarity of the direction I wanna take next in my artist coaching business & my creative life.

To celebrate the beautiful artists I work with, this new phase, and the programs that are opening, I’m gifting 28 free coaching sessions this month to 28 artists who want to step into clarity and alignment so they can (re)connect to their creativity, get unstuck in their creative projects, and move steadily toward their most meaningful goals without the overwhelm, hustle and drain. ✨

If that sounds like you, comment below with “Create!” and I’ll send you a scheduling link to your free session. These sessions are for artists & creative entrepreneurs / artist-teachers of all disciplines.

Sending you much love from this pretty island ❤️

Greetings from up North! The Christmas Holidays are around the corner, and I took an early trip up to the land of Santa Claus to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday and spend Christmas here. Love the snow and peaceful surroundings! ⁣
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This year, I made a Christmas present for you 😊 🎁 ⁣
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The 12 Days of Create From The Source: ⁣
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a reflective turn-of-the-year practice for artists & creatives, to help you gather and celebrate wins and insights from 2022, reflect on your creative work and vision, connect to your creativity and inspiration, and shine some light on the areas that might need some adjustments, attention, change, or some tender love and care.⁣
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These creativity, artist coaching & energy shifting practices are delivered to you for 12 consecutive days, starting Sunday 25 December, as daily podcasts with an accompanying PDF workbook. ⁣
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They are available for free when you sign up for the course here: https://katjamaria.podia.com/12days⁣
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You’ll find the link in my bio ⁣
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Thank you for reading my posts, following my stories and being part of my creative journey. May this Christmas season bring you what your creative heart is longing for the most. ❤️⁣
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XO ⁣
Katja⁣
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PS. Wanna spread some love in this season and are looking for a nice present for your friend or colleague who is an artist or creative entrepreneur (or doesn't call themselves an artist but you know has got a creative soul, a special talent and a big passion for something that is not their day job? 😉) ⁣
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Why not give the 12 Days of Create From The Source to them as a Christmas present? I have poured my heart into this and it would mean the world to me if this would reach as many creatives as possible. 😊⁣
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My wish is that the podcast stories and practices will provide you with inspiration, insights and practical tools to carry with you in your creative goals for 2023! ⁣

Truthbomb: “Not having enough time” is NOT the real reason you’re not getting your creative work done…! ⁣
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What you need to address instead is: ⁣
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How you’re structuring your time and the systems you’ve got in place for other tasks. ⁣
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Let me know in the comments which time-related obstacle is your biggest struggle! ⁣
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Need help managing your time & systems to help you get into flow? DM me for more information on ways we can work together! ⁣
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Receiving is a topic that has come up a lot in conversations and sessions with my coaching clients. ⁣
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I’ve never seen an artist who tells me they have 𝘯𝘰𝘵 been working really hard! ⁣
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We’re used to working hard, showing up for our practice, honing our skills and craft, hustling many projects at the same time, DIY:ing everything, having crazy schedules commuting from here to there to perform or to do a teaching gig…we’re doing, doing, doing…⁣
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But how good are we at receiving?⁣
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I intentionally write “we”, because not only do we need to look at the topic from an individual point of view, we also need to be aware of the collective consciousness, how scarcity shows up there, and how that affects your individual consciousness, beliefs, patterns, decisions and choices.⁣
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If you want stop co-signing the scarcity mindset that is so heavily engrained in our collective Artist consciousness, there’s both mindset shifts, energetic work, spiritual alignment and “worldly strategy” needed. ⁣
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Yes, you need to work through your numbers and spreadsheets, but you also need to learn to shift your mindset and energy and tune into the frequency of abundance.⁣
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It’s quite easy to get stuck in the frequency of scarcity by focusing on what you 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 have. To fall into anxiety when you’re working through your numbers and notice how hard you’ve been working and how little there’s on your bank account.⁣
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Staying in that frequency will not help you tuning in to receiving. When you get sucked into that frequency, take a break from your spreadsheets, pause and practice receiving all that’s available for you for free - like Supermoons, gorgeous sunsets & evening skies (like this one I received during my run training last night 😍), compliments…you name it! This will help you open up to the frequency of abundance. ⁣ ⁣
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And…if you’re too much on the “Yin side of things” - mostly relaxing and chilling out & practicing receiving energetically - perhaps lean a little bit more into the “Yang” with aligned strategy and action. Both sides need to coexist 😊⁣

PS: The topics of receiving and abundance relate to every type of resource: not just money - but also other physical objects and resources, time, etc…energetic transactions, solutions to your problems... Just saying, since numbers & spreadsheets were mentioned 😉


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James was in my Sing Everything Academy membership program 2020-2021. When he joined the program, he struggled a lot with breathiness and the onset of sound. He wanted to be able to better understand the way the voice creates sound and find practical ways to change what he in his words called his “poor speaking / singing habits and forced vocal onsets”. Singing-wise, he had range and some stylistic things going on, but wasn't able to express these due to poor vocal coordination. He wanted to discover new ways to use his voice, increase power, gain more control and consistency, find new and better models to understand the voice and find greater artistic expression. ⁣
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In Sing Everything, not only did he experience some very powerful transformations in his own voice and the way he practiced, but he also developed such strong analytic skills that he now can analyse other people’s voices and knows how the sounds they produce are made! What I love about James’s story is that it speaks volumes about the power of group classes & consistency. ⁣
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While I’m closing the Sing Everything program as of this summer, to make space and bandwidth for the next level of this work and the programs that are coming after this summer, in an effort to serve you where you are on the journey I wanted to make sure you'll have access to the content thus far. ⁣
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You can soon get access to my 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗩𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁. Inside the Vault, you’ll have access to the entire library of trainings & exercises starting from my early years of online teaching since 2014 up until this year! Class & workshop replays and exercises for: airflow, breath management & support, resonance, vocal techniques for singing across different styles, artistry, how to practice, “plug and play” voice warmups and workouts, and more!

⁣👉🏻👉🏻Comment below with 🐣 to get on the Early Bird list to be notified about the Early Bird flash sale in July! ⁣
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Leave a ❗️in the comments if you’ve ever been held back by beliefs and patterns that are rooted in collective consciousness!

If you’re finding it hard to follow your inner compass in the choices you make in your artist life & career, you might be stuck in the “This is how it’s always been (done)” trap of the collective consciousness of the system that you’re in.

For example:

• the performing arts industry
• the music industry
• an institute
• …and so on

Collective consciousness is VERY stuck on old patterns and beliefs, because many, many, many people have held these (limiting) beliefs, and repeating certain patterns for a very long time!

These beliefs and patterns could show up as beliefs around

* money
* time
* what it means to be a “real” artist
* how something “has to” be done
* what is / isn’t possible
* …and more


Imagine letting go of the limiting beliefs and old stories, and rewiring the patterns that are keeping you stuck in perfectionism, self-doubt, people pleasing, over-achieving, struggle, burnout, scarcity, and an inability to move forward in your work!

If you’re done with being the Blocked Artist, the Suffering Artist, the Starving Artist, the Burned Out Artist…I can help!

You can now apply to work together in my 1:1 coaching and mentoring program. DM me or comment below with 🌈 to set up a free discovery call to find out if the program is right for you! Can’t wait to work with you! ⁣
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Type a 🎶 in the comments if you’ve ever found it hard to describe and talk about your artistic work in a way that leads to meaningful conversations rather than awkward silences or missed chances to connect even more with your audience!

Having always had an eclectic taste in music, I often found it hard to explain what I was doing. It used to go like this:

“So, what do you do?” / “What kind of music do you sing?”

Me: “I sing songs of [a specific songwriter]”
Them: “Oh, I don’t know who that is”
or
Them: “Oh, that artist? I really love / cannot stand their sound.”
[brings us to a conversation about that artist, but not about my own work]

Me: “Well it’s this singer-songwriter kind of music, I guess the genre that comes closest would be folk music mixed with jazz elements…but sometimes I also sing Brazilian music…(and then it would lead to a complicated story about different music styles) ”
Them: [awkward silence]
Me: [continues the complicated story about music styles]
Them: “Jazz…isn’t that about scatting?”
[brings us to a conversation about scatting, which is cool, but totally not about what my music is about and doesn’t lead to any further questions about my own work]

Me: “I perform acoustic music with a pianist and a cellist”.
Them: “Cool.” [end of conversation]
Me: [“I guess he doesn’t like the cello…”]

…until I realized I had placed the focus on the wrong thing! I was trying to answer the question with information instead of the essence of the work & my mission as an artist.

When I started looking more closely on the songs I was singing, no matter the music genre, I discovered common themes in the stories.

Instead of answering the question “So, what do you do?” or “What kind of music do you sing?” with a music genre, or the name of a composer, I started answering it with things like:

“I’m interested in exploring what makes us feel connected and alive. I sing about homesickness and nostalgia, dreamers and seekers, and the endless longing for freedom. I find it fascinating how (name of songwriter, lyricist or composer) touched upon these themes in their work….”

The conversations that would flow from there were entirely different than the conversations I used to have when I answered that question with a description of the music genre, the composer, or the musical setup!

Suddenly, we were talking about my work as a performing artist and how that work related to the other person’s life. We’d have conversations about their own dreams, about places they felt connected to, about situations and people they were feeling nostalgic about.

THIS is what art is about!

It's not about YOU (the artist)! It's about THEM (your audience)!

Information is not interesting. What's interesting is what that information does with you, and with the person listening to / looking at your art. The fact that something's written by a specific composer, performed in swing feel or written in a complicated time signature is not interesting. What's interesting is why that fascinates you or what that communicates emotionally. People are emotional creatures. So what if you sing pop or jazz or folk or rock or reggae? Tell me about your WHY!

PS. I'd love to read some of your "Why's" and "What you do's" in the comments😊

PPS. If you want to increase the amount of meaningful conversations about your art & work as a singer, musician & performing artist, know what to write on your “About” page, and find out what’s unique about you as an artist, I can help! DM me your favorite emoji to start the conversation to find out more about my 1:1 Artist Coaching & Mentoring program!

Why not give the singer & artist in you a real TREAT this summer, and join me and Vocally •CVT Zangles for a week of voice, artistry & performance work in the most inspiring surroundings?⠀
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During the Soloists Singing Retreat at the beautiful L'Huis Preau estate in Burgundy, France 6-13 August, you will: ⠀
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🔹Broaden your vocal sound palette & get more vocal freedom with vocal technique work.
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🔹Deepen your vocal artistry through improvisation, vocal stylings, and working on music elements like rhythm & timing.

🔹Bring your songs to life with storytelling and song interpretation tools.
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🔹Develop your stage presence and learn to deal with nerves to feel confident on stage and connect with your audience.
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🔹Learn efficient practice strategies, so that you can continue reaping the benefits of everything you've learned when you get back home! ⠀
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We also guarantee you'll love the beautiful surroundings, and be spoiled with delicious home-cooked organic meals made with ❤️ by RosAppétit with organic produce from the permaculture gardens of https://www.facebook.com/La-Vie-Naturelle-1508296226134995
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👉🏻 Registration is now open! https://www.preau.nl/zangretraite
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Type a 🌟 in the comments if this hits! Being a singer, musician & artist, it’s very important to practice gratitude. The focus in your work is often on improving something - and if you feel your voice & craft is never good enough, you risk start placing all of your focus on the negative. ⁣
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Fear, (self) criticism, judgement, and other negative emotions, block both learning & creativity. Negative energy blocks you from accessing the so-called “flow-state” which makes it much more difficult to “drop in” and “be in the zone”. It blocks you from being open to new possibilities in learning situations, and makes it more difficult - sometimes even impossible! - to connect with others, including your musicians, audience, and the music. Your musicians & audience can consciously or subconsciously pick up on negative energy. They will feel that something is “off”, feel dissatisfied without consciously understanding why, or even start feeling worried on your behalf. ⁣
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Practicing gratitude anchors you in the present moment, which is the only place you want to be in when you’re learning, practicing and performing. ⁣
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Gratitude is a simple practice, but being in the present moment happens to be one of the most challenging things for any human being. The way most of us human beings are conditioned, we’re constantly either re-living the past or anticipating the future. ⁣
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But how fully can you be in the now? Can you feel gratitude about your voice, skills & creativity, just as it is right now? Not like you want it to be tomorrow, or even in an hour from now! ⁣
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As strange as this may sound: letting go of judgement & expectations is not only about letting go of the negative. You need to learn to let go of past “good” experiences too! Oftentimes when you hold on to a past “good” experience, you end up not paying attention to what’s happening in the moment, and start navigating your song on “musical autopilot”. ⁣
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What’s one old idea or belief about your voice & artistry that you could let go of re-living? ⁣
What’s one expectation that you could let go of so you can be more fully in the now? ⁣
Comment below!